Hot Pot Invasion

I've been wanting to eat at Little Lamb since I first saw its sign on the way to Ocean Park. But my plans were always cancelled. First time, there was a Milo Marathon and very bad traffic in the area. Papa was also rushing to meet some afternoon deadline so we decided to eat at ShabuYaki instead. The next time was during the latest holiday -

30 June 2010 - inauguration of President Aquino.

I suggested the place to Stan, belatedly realizing that it was near Quirino Grandstand - the site of the inauguration.

Plans cancelled once again and we ended up

eating at home!

They had several other soup bases but most were spicy (ouch-y tongue - in Naima's words). There was a Chinese soup that you cook in a charcoal pot which sounded interesting but didn't get to try.Finally, we were able to eat there during one of Papa's trips to Manila. It was a lazy Sunday and there were not many patrons. Unlike other hotpot restaurants we've tried, the servings were huge and we over-ordered.

We chose the nutritional soup - yummy with loads of garlic, ginseng, dried longan and that little red tablet thing that's also in si-boot.

Thumbs up from Papa and Mommy and Naima. There are no packaged menus and you order all the items - including the sauces.

Many of the "Little Lamb" items were sold out. From the sauces, I liked the Little Lamb aromatic sauce which you mix with the soup base. The fried rice was also yummy - as with the mushroom balls.

Prices were not inexpensive - cheapest soup base was P200 with one (ingredients were lamb spine and something else) going up to P600 plus. During our second visit, we spent almost P2k for 10 people (including 3 kids) - not bad since we were all sated and still had a doggy bag. Definitely worth coming back.

Before Little Lamb, we also frequented YakiMix and King One. YakiMix has since expanded to another branch in Mall of Asia which was always full - no reservations taken. Meanwhile, Barney thinks that Little Lamb Hotpot was much better than King One.

As I mentioned, the Milo Marathon thwarted my first visit to Little Lamb and we ended up in Shabu Yaki. Lunch prices were excellent and their Korean noodles and the beef were very good. Highly recommended for the lunch specials!Finally, another hotpot/yaki restaurant I want to try would be Keyaki. This is relatively new - I think opened for almost 2 months. Still in my list of restaurants to try along Macapagal.

Beautiful Misibis

I've been wanting to go to Bella Rocca for the longest time. Pictures of their white Santorini-style villas keep beckoning me. However, I found it difficult to find flights which fit our preferred schedule. I tried checking other options and came up with Misibis Bay. First saw photos from Zeka's FB account then got to Rajo Laurel's Magnificent Misibis post and was hooked. I contacted the resort and was accommodated by Zyra who sent me packages for Holy Week. Being super peak season, rates were NOT cheap. They do have special promos which you can check out here.Stan was holding out but I decided that I wanted to splurge and took care of the resort payments. AND we were not disappointed! We took Cebu Pacific flights since the schedules were better than PAL's. Cebu Pacific had 3 flights to and from Legazpi City while PAL only had 1 flight and it was at 6am to Legazpi and 730am back to Manila!We stayed for 3 nights and 4 days inLegazpi City and as soon as we arrived we headed to our city hotel - Hotel Venezia to check in. Lunch was with E.J. at Gasthoff. Yes - the Gasthoff of Boracay and A.Venue in Makati. Apparently, the owner is married to a Bicolano - thus the branch in Legazpi City. We were disappointed since there was no local food - except for laing. Happily, the cook obliged my pescatarian brother by coming up with a fish dish cooked in coconut milk. I must say that the fish was the highlight of the meal (and not the ribs!).
The first afternoon was spent on a city tour (included in our Misibis Bay package). First stop was Lignon Hill with a view of Mayon Volcano and zipline. On one side, you can the Legazpi city view with the airport runway. Naima got excited because when we were there, a Cebu Pacific flight departed so she saw it from the runway to the air.Next up was the requisite stop to Cagsawa Ruins. There were so many people and I couldn't get people-less photos. We stayed for some time here because Stan wanted to get LOTS of photos. It was actually Naima's naptime but happily, she wasn't cranky despite that.
We were supposed to go to Embarcadero but since it was Good Friday, everything was closed. We headed to Daraga Church instead and on to the pilinut shopping at Albay Pili. Then it was back to the hotel to freshen up. EJ and his nephews met us there before bring us to Old Colonial Grill for dinner. I can't say that it was truly a yummy Bicolano meal. EJ himself said that he could not recommend a good Bicolano restaurant to dine in because the real delicious Bicolano food is the ones cooked at home. But since it was Good Friday, his mom was fasting - so no home-cooked Bicolano meal for us! What we did enjoyed at Colonial Inn was the malunggay and the toasted rice ice cream.We started early on Saturday morning and caught the 830am trip to Cagraray Island. After a bumpy ride and a 5-minute ferry crossing ride, we arrived at 930am in Misibis Bay. We were welcomed by some employees in native costumes and dancing to thumping music. Check in time was 2pm so our room was not ready when we got there. They did have a locker room with showers where you can store your things (with locks). So we changed into our swimwear and hit the pools (there are 3). We were finally able to check in after lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day lazing and lounging in our very comfortable room.In terms of tourist attractions in cagraray, there are none. I don't think it is worth paying $$$ and leave the resort :) so we just stayed in the resort from saturday morning until monday 11am for our transfer to legazpi airport at 215pm. But if you do want to do the tourist-y activities, you can check out the whalesharks and also visit CWC - the wakeboard complex in naga city which is 1.5 hours from legazpi.I would suggest though that you stay in legazpi city if you want to do both whaleshark and cwc then just move to Misibis Bay when you are there to enjoy the resort/facilities. Legazpi city is the center of it all and staying in misibis the whole time while transfering to Donsol/Naga for the other stuff to do will lead to a lot of time wasted.

We truly enjoyed our stay at Misibis Bay. I hear that Leonardo Di Caprio is visiting the resort in August 2010. I definitely do want to come back but not until after I visit Bella Rocca. Meanwhile, next up Amorita Resort in Panglao Island!

Home Cooked Meals

When I was a newlywed, I invested in several food magazine subscriptions in hopes of creating yummy meals for Stan. Luckily, my mom was able to send me cooks/helpers who knew how to read and more importantly, FOLLOW the recipes. Stan has been pretty happy with the fare we had at home. With the coming of Anya, we had a yaya shuffle and my former cook now became Naima's yaya. My relatively new cook Gina is also great at following cookbooks although each of them have their own favorites - Good Housekeeping for Gina and Yummy for Tata. The almond coated fish was originally from my mom's cook, Tona. It was made for breaded chicken but since this was usually served to my pescatarian brother, it was modified into almond crusted fish instead. Crunchy and pairs well with sweet chili sauce.
This is a salmon and dill pasta dish from Yummy magazine. Could've been an excellent dish except Gina forgot to take out the salmon bones (from the spine). She thought that since the bones were crunchy, they would add ooomph to the dish. The extra crunch didn't match the savory dish.. we know better next time. Aside from the fish-y dishes, we added the parma ham with gouda cheese I got from Shopwise. I realized that it's better to have your ham sliced when you purchase rather than buy the pre-packed ones which tends to be old and dry.
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Meanwhile, weekends are usually spend dining in parc, ren or bay. Two Sundays ago, it was my turn to host my siblings and their families for dinner. Thanks to Prima Taste, we enjoyed a home-cooked Singapore feast.
We started with the Hainanese Chicken Rice and just added chicken and cucumbers. It was the real thing - with chicken rice, soya sauce, chili sauce and ginger sauce. We just didn't have the chicken broth to go with it. Plating c/o Gina.

I also purchased some crabs for P360 per kilo from Baclaran Seaside Market. We got 5 small crabs and transformed them into Singaporean Chili Crabs, paired with roti bread from SM Hypermart. Yum! We didn't include the extra hot sauce as the crabs were spicy enough for our taste buds.

Prima Taste has a lot of pre-mix sauces. Aside from the top 2 sauces, we've also tried the char kway teow and bah-kut-teh mix - all pretty good! For our Laksa, we usually opt for the Wo Hop bottle mix. Maybe next time, we'll try Prima Taste's Laksa mix too.

A Lovely Afternoon Tea Party

I've always loved tea parties! While studying in the DC, I wanted to try the numerous tea salons they had but couldn't do so on my limited student budget. When we went on a family vacation to Hong Kong in 2008, I coerced my entire family to do a high tea meal at the Conrad's. But contary to my expectations, the Conrad high tea was quite heavy - a mix of English and Chinese delicacies.

Last Thursday, I was invited to Amelia's Tea Party to celebrate her 30++ birthday. Amelia is one of my breastfeeding friends and even after 3 kids she still looks great! Her family owns Barbara's where the party was held. According to Zeka, this tea party had been brewing for several years already.

Her tea party was just how I expected a proper high tea party should be. When guests arrived and are seated, a waiter comes with a tray of with an assortment of various teas. You choose your tea bag then the waiter comes back with a porcelain cup and saucer set and a porcelain tea kettle and fills your cup with your chosen bag at your table. Ooohh so prim and proper!

Look at the buffet tables laden with savories and sweets!










Amelia's giveaways were feathered fans or bag charms with her ever thing note tags. The party was actually just an afternoon merienda but food and tea were overflowing! The requisite cucumber sandwiches and scones were present with clotted cream! I enjoyed the crunchy sesame shrimp cakes, the warm apple crumble pie, decadent chocolate lava cake and the assorted rich pates.

The table setting and floral arrangements were also very elegant - quite prim and proper - as how I imagined a high tea would be.

I shared the table with other breastfeeding friends and it was an afternoon filled with updates, chatter and laughter. Thanks to Amelia and kudos to a wonderful high tea celebration!

*All photos by Eddie Boy Escudero.